Our 2015-2016 Homeschool Year Part 6

Our 2015-2016 homeschool year is now officially complete!

What a blessed, busy, and productive school year we have had!

Having quite successfully completed our 5th year of homeschooling, I thought it would be neat to do a series of posts looking back over our year!

Check out the previous posts:
Part 1 - Spelling
Part 2 - English
Part 3 - History
Part 4 - Science
Part 5 - Math

This will be the final post in this year in review series. Today, I want to look back and see all that Little Brother has done!

Tot School



Little Brother just turned 2 in April, and while he's way too young for "formal" homeschooling, he is at the perfect age to explore and to develop a love for learning.

He still spends a large amount of his time in very unstructured ways just playing and roaming around from this to that. Making messes seems to be a favorite pass time; but he also enjoys helping me with chores like loading the washer/dryer or sweeping the kitchen. Just his being here to see Big Brother doing his school activities and taking part in our family's day to day routine is a big part of his "education" at this point.

One area Little Brother has especially excelled in over this past year has been Scripture memorization! You may remember that we have used the Scripture Talk DVD this year which teaches KJV Scripture passages using fun hand motions. One of Little Brother's greatest joys has been joining in as Big Brother has practiced reciting passages. From gentle daily exposure our toddler has learned Psalm 1, Psalm 100, Matthew 7:24-27, Mark 12:38-34, Ephesians 4:25-32, Ephesians 6:10-18, and John 3:16. Take a look at my blog post about toddlers and Scripture memory here

Another favorite for Little Brother is music. He absolutely LOVES music!! He and I have enjoyed attending local Kindermusik classes that are just perfect for his age group! He learns songs so easily, and some of his favorites are hymns like "What a Day That Will Be," "Amazing Grace," and "Trust and Obey." These he has learned simply from my husband and I singing them to him at naptimes and bedtime. He has a Melissa & Doug piano of his own, a First Act guitar, and a Little Tikes drum.This little dude is a one man band! Any toys that play songs are favorites. He enjoys listening to our local Christan radio station, and his current favorite group to listen to on CD for trips in the van is an acapella quartet called Garment of Praise. He can sing most of the songs on his favorite Garment of Praise CD.

I have ABeka's Nursery Arts and Crafts book which is mostly coloring sheets and simple crafts for learning colors and shapes. We have not ended up using all of this book, but Little Brother does know colors and basic shapes extremely well from just talking about all the colors around him everyday.

We have taken time to play simple "Name the Color" games using M&Ms, LEGO bricks, gummy bears, and more. Check out this post showing the simple file folder colors game I made for Little Brother to play!

Little Brother can count to 12, and he recognizes all the numerals from 0 to 9. He enjoys counting everything from steps to Cheerios to cows! He likes playing with calculators and pointing out the numbers on the buttons.

Little Brother also loves books. He can "read" his favorite books to me since he has them basically memorized. I often leave blanks when reading him familiar books so that he can fill in the words. He loves to discuss pictures, and he seems to especially enjoy books and pictures with animals.

He loves animals; and although we do not have any of our own, Little Brother quickly makes friends with any animals he encounters. Just behind us is a small farm with a few cows, and he could spend hours back there petting and talking to one especially friendly cow! He knows many animal sounds, and he loves to practice them!

Little Brother can currently identify all the capital letters of the alphabet and can give many of their sounds. I made an ABC booklet for him that has a letter of the alphabet on each page along with a picture of something familiar to him that begins with that letter. His favorite page is the page for the letter D because I put Daddy's picture there. (Little Brother is very VERY much a Daddy's boy!)

Pretty much daily he plays a cute little app called Toddler Preschool Activities that I have downloaded for him on my Android smartphone. We use the free version. It introduces letter names, numbers, colors, shapes, and counting to 10. It is surprising to me how easily a 2 year old can learn to use a smartphone!

We gave him an inexpensive set of alphabet magnets and a magnetic board on which to play with them. These are really a big hit! Sometimes I will write a few letters on his board and then ask him to find the matching magnet letter and place it on top of my letter. This is just an easy little game that is also helping him with letter discrimination. Often he will play with these magnets independently, sorting through the letters and numbers while talking about their names and colors.

Next school year he will be learning more about the alphabet and phonics while making his own ABC books to go along with our AWOA unit studies. I am also looking forward to including him in our Bible time, art, any hands-on activities we do, and as much of our read-aloud time as possible. I can't wait!

I hope you have enjoyed this series! We start back to school on Friday, June 3rd for our first 6 week session of our new year-round schedule

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DIY File Folder Color Matching Game

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At 18 months old and full of boundless energy, Little Brother is learning and growing by leaps and bounds every day!

We are working a lot on learning colors. His ABeka Nursery Arts and Crafts book has been great as it has different activities to focus on a new color each month. He has done lots of coloring, fingerpainting, Q-Tip painting, and pasting torn up construction paper to make collages.

He also loves playing with different colors of Play-Doh (mostly he loves tearing it into the tiniest pieces possible and scattering the pieces onto the freshly vacuumed living room carpet...ahem).

Yesterday I made a very simple color matching file folder game for him.



What I Used:

- 1 plain file folder
- 9 sheets of construction paper (9 different colors)
- glue stick
- scissors
- pen
- Play-Doh can lid (for tracing circles)
- clear Duck tape (use a laminator if you have one...I do not)
- markers or crayons to match the construction paper colors

Step 1 -

Trace 2 circles on each sheet of construction paper. Cut them out.

Step 2 -

Paste one circle of each color onto the inside of the file folder. Write the color word under each circle using a matching marker or crayon.

Step 3 -

Laminate each of the remaining circles. I do not have a laminator, but I did happen to have a roll of clear Duck tape! Works just as well! ;-) You just want these little game pieces to be somewhat sturdy before eager little hands get hold of them! I have a Ziploc baggie for storing them. It stays in the file folder.

To Play:

Match the play pieces to the correct color on the file folder!

I introduced the game to Little Brother this morning, and it surprised me how long it held his attention. We spent around 15 minutes practicing saying and signing color words as I helped him figure out how to match up the pieces.

He had never done any kind of matching game like this before, so this is great practice for him. The more we play together, the better he will get. And it's fun!

Later on I will probably make more of these as he moves on to learning shapes and eventually letters and numbers. You could also easily make matching games like this using pictures from any number of themes (holidays, animals, favorite books, pictures of family members, etc.).

These little games are great because they are quick to make, they take up very little space, and they can be easily stored on a bookshelf or in a file box.

Be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more great Tot School ideas!!

Did you find this post inspiring? Feel free to Pin and share! Let me know if you make a game like this of your own! I would love to hear about it!

Linking up at: Tot School Gathering Place, TGI Saturday, Growing in Grace, Hip Homeschool Blog Hop

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5 Simple Chores for an 18 Month Old!

I have already shared 32 Chore Ideas for a 7 Year Old.

Now, I want to share with you 5 Simple Chores for an 18 Month Old!



Little Brother will be 18 months old soon. He is definitely a handful, and making messes is his specialty! But he is our sweet little blessing, and he loves to be helpful!

So we have found a few simple "chores" that he is able to do around our home. While Little Brother doesn't have any interest in earning screen time like Big Brother does with his chores just yet, high fives and lots of praise go a long way with him right now. :)

Here are 5 simple chore ideas for an 18 month old:

1. Throwing away his diaper
We started teaching him to do this one a few weeks ago, and now he eagerly does it on his own after each diaper change. At first I would just carry him with me to the trash can and say, "Now we have to throw your diaper away!" as I dropped it in. Pretty soon he got the gist and started asking to do it himself. He is being helpful, and I figure this is a great way to start leading up to potty training at some point.

2. Picking up toys & books
He is the king of tearing out books and toys all over the living room, but most of the time he is also just as happy to help clean the mess back up! We have a few baskets that his toys and books go in, and when I ask him to clean up (and do the ASL sign), he is usually pretty eager to start grabbing things out of the floor and dropping them in the baskets. (But then of course it is also fun to dump everything back out and pick it all up again...and again...) ;)

3. Cleaning up his own little messes
Spills and dribbles are bound to happen with little people! When Little Brother spills something, often we will hand him a rag or towel and help him clean it up. Daddy has even let him "help" sweep up some cracker crumbs from under his chair. Again, Little Brother thinks this is all great fun!

4. Dusting
This one is a really big hit with my toddler! I do not particularly enjoy dusting...at all! But having Little Brother as an eager helper makes it fun. :) We have a big, old upright piano in our living room. I love it, but the shelves really collect alot of dust. Little Brother loves the "nano" just as much as I do (maybe more!) So dusting the "nano" is now his job. :) I put socks on his little hands and help him wipe all over that great big thing. Since it is so tall, I let him stand on the bench (with me standing there holding on) and wipe the upper shelves. For the very top I have to lift him up high and let him wipe. Could I do this job faster and easier by myself? Sure I could...but it would not be nearly as much fun! ;)

5. Gathering up dirty laundry
We sort out laundry into hampers that stay in the laundry closet. Many mornings there may be dirty clothes lying in the bathroom or bedrooms, so Little Brother can come with me and help gather them up and put them in the right hampers. This way everything is ready for Big Brother to get the day's laundry washed. Super simple, but also super helpful!

I could do any of these little chores myself and probably do them faster. BUT I feel this is as good a time as any, while he is still eager to please and full of energy, to start teaching my toddler how to take a little bit of age appropriate responsibility and to make a contribution to our home and family.

I hope you found this post helpful! What kinds of chores do the littlest helpers do in your family? Leave your ideas in the comments!!

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Tot School 8-24-15 (16 Months)

Today was Little Brother's first "official" day of Tot School!

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Basically, I spent about 45 minutes engaged in some intentional playtime with Little Brother this morning while Big Brother was completing some of his independent work.

I am using ABeka's Nursery Arts & Crafts book as somewhat of a "spine" and adding in simple activities as we go along.

Little Brother will be 16 months old at the end of this week.

For the next month, our theme will be the color Red. As soon as Little Brother heard me say "red" this morning, he immediately did the ASL sign for RED. I had not actively taught him this sign, but he seems to have picked it up from when Big Brother and I were signing colors during our Morning Memory Hour over the past few weeks. Little people don't miss much, folks! :)

So we pulled out the first sheet in his ABeka book which had a nice big, simple picture of a red crayon for him to color. He has a set of Jumbo Crayola crayons that are just perfect for his chubby little hands. We sat down together at his little table, I gave him the red jumbo crayon to use, and he colored to his little heart's content. All the while I repeated the word "Red" and the ASL several times.



We placed his artwork proudly on the fridge for Daddy to see when he gets home! :)

Next, to go along with our Red theme, we read the book Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. I pointed out the red barn on the cover and then I read the book while Little Brother practiced making animal sounds.

We also read Goodnight Moon by the same author. We paid special attention to the red balloon in the book today.

Then we went back to the little table for some playtime! I found a red fire truck and a red fire helmet for him to explore. The truck had red lights that would flash at the push of a button, and he found that very amusing for a while.

Then I pulled out his basket of scrap construction paper (one of his favorite things right now!). We found a sheet of red paper and just took turns ripping it up. He loved it!

Last I got out a small can of red Play-Doh for him. He liked squeezing the Play-Doh and tearing off pieces. I rolled into a ball for him and let him press it flat. He mostly seemed to enjoy playing with the little can and lid.

And that was our version of Tot School for today! :) Otherwise Little Brother has been free to play and toddle around all day (except for an hour nap). He is a busy little person right now for sure! So much to explore and so little time!

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my toddler son's "school" time today! What kinds of activities have your children enjoyed at his age? Leave a comment!

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Link Ups I Join - Modest Monday, Hip Homeschool Blog Hop, From House to Home, Women Living Well, Fellowship Friday, Weekly Wrap Up -, TGI Saturday, Share It Saturday, The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Mom 2 Mom, Growing in Grace, Titus 2 Tuesday